Humidity?

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Wildyams

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What is considered an acceptable humidity for a reloading/gun storage room?

what is considered too high?

right now my reloading room is at about 45% humidity, the rest of my house is about 20%.

If 45% is bad, what are some things I can do to protect my guns and reloading supplies?


thanks,
Scott
 
The critical humidity for NaCl is around 75% so you are more than safe at 45%. Basically, if you can keep the RH below 60% and take reasonable care of your firearms and reloading equipment you'll be fine.

:)
 
According to the NRA:

50% humidity at 70 degrees is considered ideal "Arms Museum" storage conditions.
Any dryer then that, and you will have problems with wood stocks drying out and shrinking / checking.


Seems your reloading room is about right, and the rest of the house too dry.

rc
 
rcmodel said:
50% humidity at 70 degrees is considered ideal "Arms Museum" storage conditions. Any dryer then that, and you will have problems with wood stocks drying out and shrinking / checking.

When HVAC engineers design a/c systems for large spaces such as museums, airports, libraries etc. they have to take into account the fact that the load on the cooling system changes as a function of how many people enter/leave the space. This can be a big design challenge for some buildings. However, I can assure you that for the typical homeowner, 60% RH is sufficiently low to prevent corrosion and you'll just be wasting energy maintaining your house at 50% RH. As rcmodel mentioned, you don't want the humidity to be too low either if you have rifles with wood stocks.

:)
 
60 to 65% is what we shoot for at the hospital in areas we control it. At 70 or 75% they will shut down OR. I forget offhand what the minimum is.
 
45% humidity is a dry day here in the Northeast. I doubt my reloading area in my basement ever goes much below 50%, even in the winter. I've never had any problems with my reloading components, loaded rounds, or rust on my guns.
 
I have a dedicated office/gunroom and I run a small dehumidifier about 8-9 months a year set at 55% RHL. I never had any corrosion problems or dried stocks. Have been waiting also for RCmodel's visit to see if affects his wooden legs in any way. If so I have plenty of WD40! :D
 
Having lived in northern NV, where the average humidity was always below 20%, I have never had an issue with wood stocks. Now living in FL, where the average humidity is running around 90%, I keep everything inside that I can, even thbough I physically reload in the garage
 
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